This website organizes responses, explanations, and decrees from Notitiae and sometimes from other sources (such as AAS) that are not readily available in other places. The goal is to provide the original text, an English translation, and a PDF scan of the relevant pages from Notitiae or other source. In some ways, the project is a further development of my Cross-Referenced Ordo Missae. This is an ongoing prject which I work on in my spare time. I am also grateful for the help of Rev. Daniel Gill, Mr. Radosław Gosiewski, and Mr. Abram Córdova y Muenzberg in transcribing some of these responses and also to Mr. Johan Oliveire and Miss Crista Mootz for helping to translate certain responses into English. PDFs are available even for texts that have not yet been transcribed.

N.B. In Notitiae 1 (1965) and 2 (1966), this notice appears above the responses: The solution which is proposed takes on no official character. It has only an orientative force; solutions will be published officially, if the case warrants, by the competent Authority in « Acta Apostolicae Sedis ».

11. Certain reverential gestures have to some degree fallen into disuse, both on the part of the celebrant and on the part of the faithful, as, for example, the profound bow of the body, made in place of the genuflection that was formerly made at the words in the profession of faith which proclaim the Mystery of the Incarnation. Are such gestures still to be observed?

Resp.
It is clear that man has to express his faith and devotion and reverence not only by words but also by gestures and posture. But this must be done with great care, since the gestures which are prescribed after the liturgical restoration are less frequently specified and more simple.

Thus the OM and the IGMR designate certain instances in which gestures should accompany words. It is sufficient to recall n. 234 of the IGMR which deals with various such situations:

A bow of the head is made when the Divine Persons are named together, at the name of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honor the Mass is being celebrated.

A bow of the body that is a profound bow is made to the altar if the tabernacle with the Most Blessed Sacrament is not present; at the prayers Munda cor meum, In spiritu humilitatis, Supplices te rogamus; at the words Et incarnatus est ... homo factus est in the profession of faith. In this case, even the rubric of the Order of Mass n. 15 has: All bow.

It will help to recall that on the Nativity of the Lord, both at the Vigil Mass and at the Mass in the night, at dawn, and during the day, at the words Et incarnatus est a genuflection is made (cfr. MR, pp. 153, 155, 156, 157); likewise for Masss on the Annunciation of the Lord (cfr. MR, p. 538).

For the consecration of the bread and the wine, in the same n. 234 it is prescribed: « The priest bows slightly as, at the consecration, he says the words of the Lord » (IMGR 234b). Moreover, he genuflects after showing the host, after showing the chalice (IMGR 233); he adores with a genuflection (OM 91-92, 104-105, 111-112, 120-121).

With regard to concelebrants, they stand at the elevation of the host and chalice, gazing at them, and then bow profoundly (IMGR 174c, 180c, 184c, 188c).

Likewise, before communion, gestures of reverence and faith are specified both on the part of of the celebrant and on the part of the faithful who receive the Eucharist. Thus, for the celebrant, IGMR 115 and OM 133 say: ... the priest genuflects, takes the host etc.; likewise for concelebrants it is established by the Missal: The concelebrants ... genuflect and reverently take the Body of Christ from the altar (IGMR 197). But with regard to the faithful, when they receive the Eucharist standing, they should make some sign of reverence (IGMR 244c, 245b, 246b, 247b).